Gonin (Japanese: ゴニン (5人) or, in some English-language editions, The Five) is a 1995 crime film directed by Takashi Ishii and starring Takeshi Kitano, Kōichi Satō and Masahiro Motoki. This was the first film Kitano starred in after his 1994 motorcycle accident. The eyepatch the character wears was because his right eye was still leaking fluids.[1]

Gonin
Film poster for Gonin
Directed byTakashi Ishii
Written byTakashi Ishii
Produced byKatsuhide Motoki
Taketo Niitsu
Takuto Niizu
StarringTakeshi Kitano
Kōichi Satō
Masahiro Motoki
Jinpachi Nezu
Kippei Shiina
CinematographyYasushi Sasakibara
Edited byAkimasa Kawashima
Music byGoro Yasukawa
Distributed byShochiku
Release date
  • 23 September 1995 (1995-09-23) (Japan)
Running time
109 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Summary

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Bandai (Sato) is a disco owner whose business, following the collapse of Japan's bubble economy, is slowly disintegrating, and who owes debts he cannot possibly pay to the local yakuza. His solution is to rob the gangsters, for which purpose he assembles a team consisting of other casualties of the economic downturn—including a gay hustler (Motoki) who frequents his club, a down-on-his-luck ex-cop (Jinpachi Nezu), an unbalanced salaryman (Naoto Takenaka), and a Thai pimp (Kippei Shiina). The hastily planned heist goes off awkwardly, and the yakuza start tracking down the conspirators, hiring a team of hitmen (Kitano and Kazuya Kimura) to take out the thieves.

Cast

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References

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  1. ^ "The Five (Gonin)". kitanotakeshi.com. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved September 26, 2014.[self-published source]
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